June 11, 1770 – British explorer Captain James Cook
discovered the Great Barrier Reef off of Australia when he ran aground.

June 11, 1775 – The American Revolutionary War's first naval
engagement, the Battle of Machias, resulted in the capture of a small British
naval vessel.

June 11, 1776 – The Continental Congress appointed Thomas
Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston
to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence from Britain.

June 11, 1788 – Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reached
Alaska.

June 11, 1825
– The first cornerstone was laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.

June 11, 1847 - Sir John Franklin, an English naval officer
and Arctic explorer, died in Canada while attempting to discover the Northwest
Passage.

June 11, 1860 - Southern delegates
held a National Democratic convention in Richmond. Party leaders urged a
"wait and see" approach.

June 11, 1861 – During the Civil
War, Union Colonel William Loring abandoned New Mexico.

June 11, 1861 – During the Civil
War, Union forces under General George B. McClellan repulsed a Confederate
force at Rich Mountain in western Virginia.

June 11, 1862 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought near Pink Hill, Deep Water and Cauville in Missouri
and near Monterey, Kentucky.

June 11, 1863 – During the Civil
War, the siege at Vicksburg, Miss. entered Day 24.

June 11, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Diascund Bridge, Va.; at Seneca Mills, Md.; and
at Burnsville and Smith's Bridge, Miss. An affair also occurred at Scottsville,
Kentucky, and an action took place at Triune, Tennessee.

June 11, 1864 – The Confederate warship CSS Alabama arrived
at the harbor of Cherbourg, France.

June 11, 1864 - Union General George Custer's men attacked
General Wade Hampton's supply train near Trevilian Station. General Phillip
Sheridan's Union cavalry came to Custer's rescue in the late afternoon. The
battle ended the next day.

June 11, 1864 – German composer Richard Strauss was born in
Munich.

June 11, 1864 – During the Civil
War, skirmishing took place at Noonday Creek and McAfee's Cross Roads, Ga.; and
at Lexington and near Midway, Va. An action also occurred at Ripley, Miss.

June 11, 1865 – During the Civil
War, Major General Henry W. Halleck found documents and archives of the
Confederate government in Richmond, Virginia. This discovery lead to the
publication of the official war records.

June 11, 1879 – National Baseball Hall of Fame catcher and
manager Roger Bresnahan was born in Toledo, Ohio. He went on to play for the
Washington Senators, the Chicago Orphans, the Baltimore Orioles, the New York
Giants, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. He also managed the
Cardinals and the Cubs and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1945.

June 11, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that the “little
son” of Mr. S.F. Daniel, living near Monroeville, was bitten by a
“rattlesnake’s pilot” one day during the previous week. “We are glad to learn
that the little fellow sustained no serious injury from the bite,” The Monroe
Journal reported. “Children should be more careful where they put their hands
when picking berries.”

June 11, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported, under the
headline, “Jailed,” the following news item from The Clarke County Democrat –
“We learn that the perpetrators of the mysterious murder near Gosport, this
county, in January 1885, have been ascertained and three of the four implicated
in the deed have been arrested and imprisoned in the jail of Escambia County,
Fla. in Pensacola. It seems that four men, one of them white, were participants
in the murder, that they were all timber men of Escambia County, Fla. and that
they followed their victim to this county, awaiting a favorable opportunity to
kill him, knowing that he had about $800 on his person. In the division of the
money, one of the negroes received a very small share, and, from the
dissatisfaction therefrom, made revelations which led to the arrest of the
others. So, this very diabolical and mysterious matter is at last cleared up,
and we are glad to learn that none of our people are connected with it.”

June 11, 1886 – The Monroe Journal reported that a “report
was circulated on the streets one day last week that Mary Kelly, a colored
woman, and several of her children had been poisoned. Dr. Packer was hastily
summoned to ascertain the truthfulness of the report. He at first suspected the
statement to be true, by the fact of their having been taken violently sick so
suddenly and all so nearly at the same time, but upon investigation he found
that it was only cholera morbus produced by the immoderate eating of some rice
pudding, which was bad and unfit for use.”

June 11, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from
the Perdue Hill community, that Mr. Walse Rives, who had just graduated from
the Marion Military Institute, had returned home.

June 11, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from
the Mexia community, that the people of Mexia were contemplating building a new
Baptist church at Mexia in the near future.

June 11, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from
the Tinela community, that the Rev. T.Y. Abernathy had come down from Tuskegee
to bury Rufus Gautier, his little two-year-old son.

June 11, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from
the Axle community, that a party of young people composed of Misses Mamie and
Julie Farrar, Misses Doeb and Pearl Busey, attended by their “Paters,” enjoyed
a recent pleasant trip to Claiborne. “After taking in the town, they took
passage on steamer Carrier, intending to make return trip by Str. Tincie, which
they did much to the delight of the young folks who were enjoying for the first
time a steamboat ride.”

June 11, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from
the Mount Pleasant community, that Elder A.J. Lambert left for the Pleasant
Hill church a few days before to fill his regular appointment at that church.

June 11, 1901 – Alabama Gov.
William J. Samford died while in office and was succeeded by the president of
the Alabama Senate, William D. Jelks. The Constitutional Convention, then in
session, would recreate the office of Lieutenant Governor in the 1901
Constitution. Originally created in the 1868 constitution, the office of
Lieutenant Governor had been dropped from the 1875 version.

June 11, 1902 – The Evergreen Courant reported that “L.L.
Peacock of Gregville” was in Evergreen on this morning.

June 11, 1902 – The Evergreen Courant reported that “Lenox
is the name of a new post office recently established in this county, with
Joseph Ryals postmaster.”

June 11, 1902 – The Evergreen Courant reported that W.B.
James had taken the oath of office to serve as a Conecuh County Sheriff’s
Deputy.

June 11, 1902 – The Evergreen Courant reported that on June
7 Conecuh County Sheriff W.W. Pridgen arrested 64-year-old Albert Brown in
Stockton, Ala. on 31-year-old murder charges and transported him to the Conecuh
County Jail in Evergreen. Brown was arrested for the stabbing of Levi Brown on
the night of Aug. 10, 1871 on the railroad tracks in downtown Evergreen. Levi
Brown died three days later, but Albert Brown claimed he stabbed the man in
self-defense.

June 11, 1903 – Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback Ernie
Nevers was born in Willow River, Minn. He went on to play for Stanford, the
Duluth Eskimos, the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago Cardinals. He was inducted
into the Hall of Fame in 1963.

June 11, 1904 - The members of Camp George W. Foster of the
United Confederate Veterans were scheduled to assemble at the Monroe County
courthouse in Monroeville on this Saturday for the annual election of officers
and to elect delegates to the reunion at Nashville, Tenn. Thos. J. Emmons was
Camp Commander, and F.M. Jones was Adjutant.

June 11, 1907 – William J. McCants, postmaster at Wawbeek,
died at that place after a lingering illness with typhoid fever. The deceased
had passed the three score and 10 mark and owing to his age, it was seen from
the first that the severe attack of fever would prove fatal. He was a native of
Bells Landing, Monroe County, at which place he was engaged in the mercantile
business for many years afterward, moving to River Ridge in the same county,
where he again took up the mercantile business several years ago. He moved to
Canoe in Escambia County, where he was appointed postmaster, acting in that
capacity until a few years previous, when he moved to Wawbeek where he later
secured the postmastership. He was also a Mason since his early manhood. Born
on Sept. 26, 1836, he was buried in the Bells Landing Cemetery at Hybart.

June 11, 1909 – The Conecuh Record reported that on this day
J.P. Yates, W.P. Yates, A.F. Daw, Andrew Philyaw, John Philyaw and two others
were struck by lightning at Owassa, Ala. on this afternoon while packing
tomatoes. They all recovered.

June 11, 1910 – French underwater explorer Jacques-Yves
Cousteau was born in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, Gironde, France. He also invented
the Aqua-Lung diving apparatus and was known around the world as an ecologist
and filmmaker.

June 11, 1913 – Pro Football Hall of Fame football coach
Vince Lombardi was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame
in 1971.

June 11, 1915 – The first cotton bloom of the season in
Conecuh County, Ala. came from the farm of W.T. Chapman near West Side.

June 11, 1915 – On this Friday afternoon, an illegal
distillery inside a smoke house was destroyed near Burnt Corn by Sheriff
Williams, Deputy Davis and Revenue Officer Nabors of Mobile. Several barrels of
beer were also destroyed, and the operator of the still, Joe Holder, was
arrested and taken to jail.

June 11, 1917 – Confederate veteran Gus Riley died at his
home six miles west of Evergreen, Ala. About 70 years of age, he was a devoted
member of the Arkadelphia Baptist Church, near where his family lived.

June 11, 1917 - Willard Savage, the son of F.W. Savage, was
taken to Demopolis on this Monday morning where he was expected to undergo an
operation for appendicitis. Later report said he withstood the operation nicely
and was resting well.

June 11, 1917 - Prof. J.B. Sellers left McWilliams on this
Monday for the University of Alabama, where he planned to attend the summer
school.

June 11, 1918 - After several
months of an aggressive German offensive on the Western Front during the spring
and early summer of 1918, the Allies began their counterattack, including an
assault on June 10, 1918, by four French and two American divisions on German
lines near the town of Antheuil-Portes in central France, some 45 miles from
Paris.

June 11, 1925 – Novelist William Styron was born in Newport
News, Va.

June 11, 1935 – Inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong gave the
first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States at Alpine,
New Jersey. Armstrong demonstrated the clarity of FM compared to AM radio by
playing classical music and the sound of water being poured.

June 11, 1936 – In South Alabama Baseball League action, the
Evergreen Merchants beat Century in Century, Fla. Lefty Adams pitched for
Century, and Ripper Williams pitched for Evergreen. Century scored in the fifth
inning on a hit and two sacrifices and in the seventh on an error and a triple.
An attempted rally by Century was cut short in the ninth when, with runners on
first and second, Harper backed up against the fence to pull down a long fly
and throw out the runner going to third who attempted to advance after the
catch. Evergreen scored three runs in the sixth on three base hits. In this
inning, Bear Hall drove a single past second and scored on Ripper Williams
liner into left for two bases. This set the stage for Sam Jones, who, with the
count three and two, drove on of Adams’ shots over the center field wall for
four bases.

June 11, 1938 - Johnny Vander Meer of the Cincinnati Reds
threw the first of two consecutive no-hitters.

June 11, 1939 – The Inter-State Baseball League was
scheduled to play its All-Star Game in Brewton, Ala. on this Sunday. The league
was divided into two parts to be known as the North and the South. The North consisted
of the following clubs: Evergreen, Brewton, Frisco City and Monroeville. The
South consisted of Flomaton, Atmore, Jay and Milton. The following players were
set to participate in the game: North, George, Price, Stokes, Hawkins, Digman,
Newell, Duscall, Cardwell, Lomax, Pullen, Moore, Brown, Lane, Murphy, Nichols
and Hanna. For the South, Dooley, Perry, Thomas, Crane, Polk, Hawsey, Campbell,
McKenzie, Lowery, Cickory, McNeill, Fisher, Ash, Van Merkynstein, Turberville
and Dobbs.

June 11, 1947 – R.F. Hyde brought the first cotton bloom of
the 1947 season by The Courant office around noon on this Wednesday.

June 11, 1949 – Country music legend Hank Williams debuted
on Grand Ole Opry. He performed "Lovesick Blues" and "Mind Your
Own Business."

June 11, 1951 – Army PFC Edward W. Rigdon, 29, of Escambia
County, Ala. was killed in action in Korea. Born on Dec. 25, 1921, he was
buried in the Range Cemetery at Range in Conecuh County. He was a member of the
17th Infantry, 7th Infantry Division.

June 11, 1956 – Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Joe
Montana was born in New Eagle, Pa. He went on to play for Notre Dame, the San
Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. He was inducted into the Hall of
Fame in 2000.

June 11, 1959 - The Hovercraft, a new form of transport
described as a cross between an aircraft, boat, and land vehicle, was
officially launched.

June 11, 1962 – In Evergreen Senior League play, the Braves
beat the Pirates, 13-6, to remain in first place. Claude Aaron recorded three
hits and four RBI for the Braves, and Grady Hobbs and Ronnie Jackson pitched
for the Braves.

June 11, 1962 – Six people were injured in a two-car
accident on this Monday afternoon at the intersection of Rural Street and West
Front Street, at the foot of the overhead bridge, in Evergreen, Ala. The
accident involved a 1959 Oldsmobile, driven by Patrick T. Casey of Montgomery,
and a 1954 Chevrolet, driven by Willard Harrington of Evergreen.

June 11, 1963 - Dr. James Hardy, a native of Shelby County,
Ala. and chief of surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center,
performed the world's first human lung transplant. The patient lived for three
weeks before dying of chronic kidney disease. The next year Hardy transplanted
a chimpanzee's heart into another patient, marking the first transplant of a
heart into a human.

June 11, 1963 - In a vain attempt to halt the enrollment of black
students Vivian Malone and James Hood, Governor George C. Wallace stood in
front of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama. This became known as
the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door". Later in the day, accompanied by
federalized National Guard troops, Malone and Hood both registered for classes
quietly away from the spotlight to become the first two black students to
successfully enroll at the university.

June 11, 1963 - Robert Muckel, a
29-year-old white high school teacher from Nebraska, unintentionally became the
first student to successfully integrate a public educational institution in
Alabama. Shortly before Gov. George Wallace made his "stand in the
schoolhouse door" at the University of Alabama, Muckel sat down for his
first class at Alabama A&M College, an all-black institution. Attending a
summer science institute, Muckel did not realize when he applied that A&M
was a segregated school.

June 11, 1963 - Buddhist monk Quang
Duc publicly burned himself to death in a plea for President Ngo Dinh Diem to
show “charity and compassion” to all religions.

June 11, 1964 – The Monroe Journal reported that Monroeville
had entered a “Town Team” in the Conecuh Amateur Baseball League, which was
made up of six teams from Conecuh, Escambia and Monroe counties. That summer,
through Aug. 30, Monroeville was to have its first city team since the old
“Town Team” dissolved many years before. This latest version of the city
baseball team was to be managed by Glenn Bayles of Monroeville. The 15-member
team was comprised of men from all parts of the county. Teams in the league
were from Red Level, McKenzie, Evergreen, Damascus, Paul and Monroeville, which
played its home games at Vanity Fair Ball Park.

June 11, 1970 - A force of 4,000
South Vietnamese and 2,000 Cambodian soldiers battled 1,400 communist troops
for control of the provincial capital of Kompong Speu, 30 miles southwest of
Phnom Penh.

June 11, 1972 – Wilcox County
native Hank Aaron tied the National League record for 14 grand-slam home runs
in a career.

June 11, 1979 – American actor,
director, and producer John Wayne passed away from stomach cancer at the age of
72 in Los Angeles, Calif.

June 11, 1981 - The first Major
League Baseball player's strike began. It would last for two months.

June 11, 1981 – The Monroe Journal announced that Mike
Qualls, then age 25, would begin covering sports for The Journal. In that same
edition of The Journal, his first sports story, “Crispy Chick suffers first
loss; Wiggins Hardware defeats D&S,” appeared.

June 11, 1988 - Rick Rhoden of the New York Yankees became
the first pitcher to start as a designated hitter.

June 11, 1990 - Nolan Ryan became the oldest player to throw
a no-hitter. It was the sixth of his career.

June 11, 1993 - Steven Spielberg's movie "Jurassic
Park" opened.

June 11, 1994 - A popcorn container was filled with
approximately 6,619 cubic feet of popped corn. The box was over 39 feet long,
20 feet wide and 8 feet tall.

June 11, 1995 - Mark McGwire tied a major league record when
he hit home runs in five consecutive games.

June 11, 1995 - Lee Smith set a major league record when he
got his 16th consecutive save in 16 appearances.

June 11, 1998 – In “V for Vendetta,” Gordon was murdered by
Alistair Harper. Evey went to the Kit Kat Keller to murder Harper, but was
arrested by Norsefire. That same night, Rosemary began working at the Keller.

June 11, 2001 – Timothy McVeigh was executed by the U.S.
federal government for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

June 11, 2005 - As the investigation into the disappearance
of Natalee Holloway, 18, of Mountain Brook continued, David Cruz, spokesman for
the Aruban Minister of Justice, indicated that Holloway was dead and
authorities knew the location of her body. Cruz later retracted the statement,
saying he was a victim of a "misinformation campaign."

June 11, 2005 - During an interleague game with the Los
Angeles Angels of Anaheim, New York Met Marlon Anderson of Montgomery, Ala.
tied the score in the ninth inning with an inside-the-park home run off Angels
closer Francisco Rodríguez. The ball caromed away from center fielder Steve Finley,
who ran it down in right-center field as Anderson circled the bases. Anderson
barely beat the play at the plate, colliding face-first into catcher José
Molina's mask.

June 11, 2008 - Strong thunderstorms rolled through parts of
Monroe County on this Wednesday afternoon, wreaking havoc. One storm passed
over Excel and produced strong lightning, rupturing a water line on Alabama
Highway 136 West and leaving nearly 600 households without water for several
hours.

June 11, 2010 - ESPN launched ESPN 3D.

June 11, 2011 – San Diego Padre Anthony Rizzo impressed
Washington Nationals starter John Lannan by belting his first home run – a
388-foot solo shot to right field in a 2-1 home loss to Washington. Lannan was
trying to miss the zone inside – which he did – but the rookie turned on the
pitch and deposited it on top of the out-of-town scoreboard to account for the
only Padres run.